On Monday, March 12th, Judge Julius Title of Los Angeles Superior Court reimposed the receivership on the Church. He accused the Church of acting in bad faith when it refused to cooperate with a court order in place of a receiver. When the order was written and then signed on March 2 by the judge and then made available for review, our attorneys were convinced that it was unconstitutional and could not be complied with without forfeiting our constitutional rights. Our attorneys filed a Notice of Appeal to the District Court of Appeals on the same day. Once appealed, the order was automatically stayed, but the judge viewed this as an obstructionist tactic. He was obviously irked at our having taken rightful and legal steps to seek remedy.
The new receiver was appointed at the end of a hearing in which the former receiver, Mr. Weisman, was to be cross-examined by our attorneys concerning excessive fees, as well as his competence and credibility in the role of a receiver. Judge Title refused to proceed with an evidentiary hearing in which not only Weisman, but also others claiming fees in the receiver's final accounting were to be called to the stand.
Our attorneys believe that it was the desire of Judge Title, based on his own remarks in court, to retaliate for our blocking his constitutionally invalid court order. a better move than he by our perceiving that due to the nature of the order it was automatically stayed while on appeal. Mr. Rader believes Judge Title also wanted to protect his good friend, Mr. Weisman, from a most embarrassing cross-examination by our attorneys in regards to the accounting of the receivership. (Judge Title already announced to the court on January 10th that they were very good friends.)
Our attorneys insisted that the new receivership was unjust and uncalled for since we had indeed shown good faith regarding "a reasonable examination." However, we were unwilling to surrender First Amendment guarantees in the process.
In order to clear the air and remove the cloud over the Church and other defendants, our lawyers told the court that after the injunctive order was stayed we had engaged an outstanding accounting firm, Arthur Anderson and Company, to do a certified audit which would then be made available to the Attorney General and to the public press.
The Church has always maintained that the audit should not exceed the scope of the accusations of the lawsuit. But the court gave the Attorney General unprecedented run of our records — even non-financial and privileged private records that had nothing — to do with the allegations of the suit! After seven weeks of auditing with the help of the accounting firm of Peat, Marwick and Mitchell, and a receiver's total expense of over a quarter of a million dollars, instead of admitting his error, the Deputy Attorney General wants to keep digging in our records. Apparently the presumption is that if they dig deep enough and long enough they may eventually find something amiss which will vindicate their extraordinary abuse of power.
So-long Chodos:
After pleading with the court for the $102,000 he says his time is worth over these past eight weeks, Hillel Chodos, special deputy attorney general and counsel for the state, is resigning from the case. The judge denied his request for payment of fees but left the door open for him to request them again if the Attorney General is successful in prosecuting the defendants in the lawsuit. The Church's position is, of course, that he should never receive one dime of the Church's money since we never hired him and he certainly was not serving the interests of the Worldwide Church of God!
The brethren in the Southland who have heard his repeated slander, outright lies and misrepresentations in the media, as well as seen his arrogant and pretentious conduct in the courtroom, are glad to see him head for "greener" pastures.
More Evidence of Conspiracy
At a press conference in Mr. Rader's office on March 8, he announced that "We have received evidence of an incontrovertible nature which proves to us that prior to January 2 there was a very active conspiracy between Mr. Chodos, the Attorney General's office and some of the people employed in very high places within this organization — but who are now no longer employed. These are in addition to the efforts of the six named former members (so-called 'relators') in the lawsuit.
"We also have incontrovertible evidence" he said, "that prior to January 2, prior to the filing of the lawsuit, that the Attorney General and Mr. Chodos knew beyond any shadow of a doubt, that all the allegations in their complaint were false. They were told by persons in a position to tell them all that there never had been any siphoning or pilfering of millions of dollars by Mr. Herbert Armstrong, me or anyone."
In this travesty of justice, the sorry story begins in Superior Court with the judge who first admitted this lawsuit was based solely on allegations. Mr. Rader says none of this would have happened without Judge Jerry Pacht. He is the person who had a relationship with Mr. Chodos prior to the time this complaint (lawsuit) was ever filed. And Mr. Tapper had a relationship with both of them somehow. Further, Mr. Weisman had a relationship with all three of them!
All these factors put together have convinced all our attorneys that never has there been a plainer case of abuse of judicial process and malicious prosecution, Mr. Rader said we will prove this at the proper time and proper place.
Nationwide Advertising Campaign Begins
After delays in getting started we have finally managed to secure fullpage advertising space in the Los Angeles Times. (See reproduction of this ad on page 5.) This large circulation newspaper is rated one of the top ten in the nation and goes to a broad spectrum of readers, including a large proportion of "influencers" in many fields. Looking now at the timing of the reimposed receivership and the advertisement coming out the very next day, we can't help but wonder if God isn't using this present ''setback" to catapult God's Church yet further and faster forward in fulfilling its commission.
We have no way of knowing just how or when God will totally lift this present trial, but we can be sure that all things work together for good and that God will bring good out of difficulty. Already much good has resulted in cleansing the Church and unifying the ministry and the brethren. In the weeks and months ahead, attention will be focused even more sharply on the Church and the College and each of you as we all stand behind God's apostle in warning this world.
NEW RECEIVERSHIP IMPOSED ON GOD'S CHURCH
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